Auditions

New York casting director Susan Willett, with whom Hancock has collaborated on numerous projects, including hundreds of TV commercials, is coming out of retirement to conduct the auditions. She discovered Rebecca Harrell, the young star of Hancock’s Christmas classic, “Prancer” (1989), in addition to casting her famous co-stars: Sam Elliott, Abe Vigoda and Oscar-winner Cloris Leachman. She also cast acclaimed actors Tyne Daly and Frederic Forrest in Hancock’s “A Piece of Eden” (1999). Both films were shot in La Porte County and Michigan’s Harbor Country.

The movie, written by Hancock’s wife and longtime collaborator, Dorothy Tristan, centers on a grandmother who may be experiencing the earliest stage of dementia, and who finds herself taking care of her granddaughter after the girl’s mother dies. The two clash, unable to find any common ground … until the grandmother discovers her granddaughter has an extraordinary talent: a powerful singing voice.